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My name is Nicole Dean, I am a teacher at a high school in Washington D.C. and I help writing college papers. I created this blog to tell you about my teaching experience, about successfull learning techniques and communication with students. I am waiting for your comments!

Test Preparation Tips for the College Student

College tests are a whole different ball game. No matter what school you came from, things are much more advanced and difficult in college. But that doesn’t mean you should give up. You just need a new game plan, a new plan of attack for how you can succeed on college tests. Check out these tips to help you get started on your way to acing your exams.

Don’t skip class.

This seems obvious, but it’s important. Even the most dedicated students find themselves in moments where they don’t want to get out of bed, or want to go out with friends instead of going to class. But you need to go to class. Falling behind is difficult to catch up when your workload is so heavy. Class is the first step to putting all of the information you need to know for the test into your brain.

Don’t assume you’ll remember.

You might think when you hear an important piece of information for the first time that it’s so obvious you’ll definitely remember it for the test. But don’t make any assumptions. The test is farther off than you think, and with the volume of information you’re absorbing, you never know what you’ll forget. Take notes so you can refer to them later and know exactly what went on.

Summarize your information.

Take your notes and summarize them. It may seem tedious, but it’s actually a great step towards memorization. Not only that, but it’s the perfect way to force yourself to organize your thoughts. Summarizing refers to the process of paraphrasing and organizing a lot of information, which will make it much easier for you to recall.

Leave yourself plenty of time.

Don’t try to cram for college tests. It might have worked in high school, but it won’t work in college. You’ll only be putting yourself at a disadvantage. Create a schedule and start studying well in advance. Doing things piece by piece will help you to retain the information much better than learning it all last minute.

Make it fun.

Try to make studying as fun as possible. Create games or practice quizzes. Make some flash cards and work through them. Involve your friends and classmates. It doesn’t all have to be awful. The more fun and social you are able to make it, the more likely you will be to stick to your schedule and get all of your studying done.